Avengers Assemble 5-- It took a couple of issues for this book to start rolling, but now that it has, it has become one of my most anticpated purchases. This issue was mostly character stuff, but it sets the wheels in motion for some nice cosmic action next issue. This is my first real exposure to this incarnation of the Guardians and they seem like a likeable bunch. It would be up to the fans of the DnA run to say if the characterizations were "on" or not, but I liked them.

Captain America 14-- The finale of the "Shock to the System" arc was a good read. This arc was the best Brubaker has written since the book re-booted.

Alas, poor D-Man. I rather liked poor old Dennis. He might never have been the brightest bulb on the string, and he certainly had his mental issues over the years, but you could never doubt his sincerity or his heart of gold. I would have liked to hear/read Cap's eulogy for him.

The next arc, "New World Orders" (co-written with Bru by Cullen Bunn), is supposed to wrap all of Bru's hanging plot threads concerning Bravo and the New Hydra followed by a done-in-one that will tie a bow on Bru's run before the books "cancellation".

New Mutants 45- It was an interesting twist making the mysterious threat from the future not one, but two Doug Ramseys. Ever since they brought him back, they have gone to mostly successful lengths to make Doug less lame and more of an asset to a team. However, showing that one day he could be a legitimate threat was a twist that I didn't see coming. I'm in for at least one more issue, but as the book is ending with #50 anyway, I might just hang around till the end.

Defenders 8-- Defenders continues to entertain. I haven't been a huge fan of Matt Fraction in the past, but this book has largely been gold. I think this issue made it pretty clear that Felicia will be around for a while rather than just as a guest star, which I'm totally cool with. I do hope that we start to get a few answers about the Concordance Engines and the role they play in the universe at large soon.

Kieron Gillen remember is rumored to be taking over "Iron Man" with Greg Land, so perhaps with the cancellation of Uncanny X-Men, they're also ending "Journey Into Mystery" so he can focus directly on Iron Man?? Otherwise, that does seem weird.

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Gillen said this to JiM's fans Tumblr on today...

kierongillen:

You’re a bunch of sweeties.

I’ll say this - which is more than I probably should - but one of the books I’m doing in Marvel Now will be of particular interest to the JIM-related Tumblr-Crowd. If my reading of you lovely lot is right anyway.

But between now and then, I have all the feels in the world for you.

It’s good stuff. Feeling is why we’re here.

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"One of the books". Plural. Very Cool. Especially if one the books manages to carry over characters and themes from JiM. Could Gillen be taking over both "Iron Man" and "Thor"? That would put him on "Archetect" level.

Looks like I might be wrong about no Spider-Man group books being effected..."Venom" though is a Rick Remender book and it would appear he's already going to be handling multiple books in the relaunch, and "Scarlet Spider" just started a few months ago and has been excellent so far, I'd hate to see it go. Unless of course they're planning on doing something bigger with these characters.

Space Punisher #1: I decided to check this out of curiosity and am glad I did. This was a whole of fun, more so than I was expecting and I really enjoyed the art as well.

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I debated getting this. I really liked the painted art look of the book. That and Infernal Man-Thing(which I didn't comment on cause I thought I'd be the only one who got it) both have that look for mini-series right now. I opted instead to get the Valiant relaunch of Bloodshot #1 thinking I might could get Space Punisher easier in a $1 box.
Yes, I actually use as a factor my book budget on $1 box potential books.

If anyone is interested Marvel is doing live bloging for all of their panels. I'm following the House of Ideas one now, but nothing to interested has been said. It's mostly been discussing digital releases, Infinite comics, and social media.
Oh, and if anyone else follows these, and sees a comment from Jd Brodsky, that's me. I already commented on this panel.
The next one is The Next Big Thing, at 4:30pm- 5:30 pm Pacific time.
EDIT: The Next Big Thing Panel:
*The Panel features Sana Amanat, Marjorie Liu, Neal Adams, Daniel Way, Axel Alonso, James Asmus, Jeanine Schaefer, Peter David, Joe Keatinge and CB Cebulski.
*Gambit #1 starts with a shower scene. (Might be a joke....not sure)
*There will be a trip around the world honeymoon annual issue for Northstar and Kyle. There probelms won't go away now that they're married.
*Amanat said he sent a note to take off Hawkeye's shirt after hearing about Gambit's shower scene.
* "This is Ms. Marvel becoming Captain Marvel. She's transitioning into a new role, but she's as bad ass as ever. You see her passion for flight. You see a relationship from the past. She isn't the friendliest person on Earth, but she's good at what she does and she knows it. She's got passion, she's got flair and she's got style." - Sana Amanat
*"It's been an incredible ride. The most fun I've ever had on a series. I've been able to write every kind of story with Deadpool. I think we really go out on a high note." - Daniel Way
*Way has a new project he can't talk about.
*If you like Deadpool, you'll like the new project, Way gets to do what he does best.
*It's not the end for Deadpool.
*New Mutants will end with #50 in Oct., but they will continue to show up in "cool and interesting places"
*In an upcoming X-Factor called Run Layla, Run she will have to get across town in less than 20 minutes during a blackout.
*Peter David will be tying up his lose plot points in a 5 issue arc called Breaking Points. It will be drawn by Leonard Kirk
* "Saying 'things will never be the same' is an overused phrase, but it applies here. The team that comes out of X-Factor #245 will not be the one that goes into X-Factor #241. I'm really excited to see the reactions from you guys." - Peter David
*Red Hulk, will become Red She-Hulk starting with October's #58. It's credited to Jeff Parker, Carlo Pagulayan and Wellinton Alves.
EDIT: Oops not done
*It will have an impact on Hulk during Marvel Now.
*Thanos: Son of Titan by Joe Keatinge and Rich Elson starts in October.
*People are reading Captain Marvel and it's getting a really good reaction.
*If you liked Avengers you need to read the new Thanos series.
*Neal Adams talks about how he proposed a pre-X-Men mutant team lead by an X-Man.
* "Could it be that Wolverine's relationship with the X-Men runs deeper than we've ever known?" - Neal Adams
*: "First X-Men has Wolverine, it has Sabretooth, it has new X-Men and it has good stories." - Neal Adams
*Fan Questions now
*First X-Men will explore the Wolverine Sabertooth relationship. (I don't think this came from a question)
*Kate Bishop will be the only Young Avenger involved with Hawkeye. But there are big plans for the Young Avengers.
*There is something big planned for Nova and Rocket Raccoon (I'm not sure if this is referring to just them or the whole team).
*The X-Factor Breaking Points arc will deal with Polaris past. There is no question about Magneto being her father.
*They're "taking a long hard look at all the non-Earthbound characters.
*"You will see god-like characters in Thanos: Son of Titan. This series is Thanos learning about the universe around him and the genesis of him becoming who he will be. You'll be seeing a lot of characters you love and love to hate." - Sana Amanat "This is Thanos: Year One." - Axel Alonso
*"There's no absence of love for Doctor Strange. A lot of people have come to us with an interest. We want to do it right. We need to figure out what Marvel magic means, what the rules are. It can't just be a deus ex machina." - Axel Alonso
*There are big plans for Nick Fury.
*"The Ultimates are the Avengers on HBO." - Sana Amanat
*In September, we'll find out about a non-Runaways series featuring Runaways characters in major roles.
*Cloak and Dagger will appear in Amazing Spider-Man, and it'll have an impact on Peter.
*The non-Runaways book will feature some Secret Warriors.

Gahh, I just accidentally deleted my whole write up for the Ultimate panel twice. I don't really feel like writing everything a third time, so here's the link. It's the fourth one down. Sorry.
There's some big new about the Divided We Fall storyline, including the return of Cap, and a new role for Kitty Pryde. They say that the new big three characters for the Ultimate Universe will be Cap, Kitty, and Miles Morales.
EDIT: Cup o' Joe panel #5.
*Joe Queseda, Axel Alonso, CB Cebulski, and Jeph Loeb.
*Marvel NOW! is not a reboot, they're just pairing up creators and saying go. It will build off of the past 10 years of continuity.
*If you hold up a device with the new AR app to the cover of each Marvel NOW! issue, it will give you a recap of everything you need to know.
*Marvel NOW! Point One will feature stories by Bendis, Fraction, Loeb, Spencer, Hopeless, McNiven, Allred, McKelvie, Larrocca and one more name the blogger can't see.
*Loeb just dropped the clue "Diamondhead".
*A+X will be the opposite of AvX. It will be done by Jeph Loeb, Dan Slott, Dale Keown and someone else the blogger can't see. (Ok, he needs to find a better seat or something).
*AvX Consequences will be 5 issue miniseries written by Kieon Gillen and coming out weekly in October. It will deal with the end of AvX, and set up the future of the Marvel U.
*A-Babies vs X-Babies written by Scottie Young and drawn by Guru FX will be released in October. It's being done in response to the popularity of Young's baby AvX variant.
*Q&A and some links
*Someone asks about Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver in films, but they won't talk about films here.
*What about in print: Scarlet Witch will be in Uncanny Avengers.
* http://marvel.com/news/story/19032/sdcc_2012_marvel_now_point_one
*http://marvel.com/news/story/19030/sdcc_2012_ax
*http://marvel.com/news/story/19031/sdcc_2012_avx_consequences
*The AR app will translate some of Illiana's Russian dialouge in an AvX issue.
*They call All New X-Men "Days of Future Now". It'll see the original X-Men dealing with who they've become.
*Avengers EMH and Assemble.
*They're not ignoring EMH. Assemble will be more like the film, and will be "next generation in the Avengers cartoon evolution".
*They compare it to New Avengers, and say they are building to a concluision in EMH they knew was coming. It'll end at 52 episodes.
*Question about Cyclops dying.
*Axel: "Whether he lives or dies, he will always cast a big shadow in the X-Men's world."
*Question about AR in old comics: Not right now.
*Question about kids getting into comics: They have comics set in the Universe of USM and A:EMH. Dan Slott, Chris Yost, Ty Templeton and more have done them.
*Question about Hulk: There will be "a very new dynamic between the Hulk and Banner".
*There will be humor in Hulk.
*Question about events: They know roughly what will happen for the next three years. They plan the details as they get closer.
*" Fan giving CB's LONERS some love and asking waht's up with Red Ronin and who Hollow was--haven't revealed Hollow's id yet, but Red Ronin is still out there. Arune says that December will be a big month for the teen heroes in the Marvel U."
*Question about cosmic heroes:The future of the cosmic heroes is very, very bright.
*Question about more Ultimate/616 crossovers: The path from one universe to the other will still be there after Spider-Men.
*X-Force and Deadpool will be part of Marvel NOW! but they but they won't talk about changes to them.
*Avengers Assemble is canon, and you will have to wait to see what happened to Richard Ridder.
*Ben Reilly is not coming back.
*There are not plans to bring British Marvel comics characters into the main Marvel Universe at this time.
*More Nova in Marvel NOW!
*No plans intercompany crossovers.
*"Fan requesting collected editions of Christopher Priest's Black Panther--Joe Q can't speak to the trades department, but he'll relay the message to David Gabriel, who heads up that group."
*There will be more prominent female heroes besides Captain Marvel in Marvel NOW!
*"Fan asking Axel about the Phoenix force--Cyclops thinks it's all about rebirth, but the fan hasn't seen Phoenix do anything positive ever. Axel says Scott's logic is a bit crazy, but he's put a lot of faith in his girl. At the end of Messiah Complex, on a hunch, he sent Hope into the future to save her. And after she retuned to the present, five new mutants popped up. He has faith in Hope, but it's not as if it's based on nothing."
EDIT:
They're finishing up the day with The All-Winners Squad, which seems to be a joke panel with people dressed up as Unicorn, Squirrel Girl, and Hypno Hustler, and hosted by Morgan Spurlock.
They'll be putting up a AWS video on the Marvel site soon, and Hot Topic will have AWS merch (I think this was serious, I'm not sure). The team worked are Marvel interns, and it's other members are Ruby Thursday, Walrus, Frog Man, Howard the Duck, Doop Batroc, Big Wheel, Bommerang, Demolition Man, Devil Dinosaur, Doop, Ego the Living Planet, Hellcow, Hit-Monkey, Man Bull, Mister Fish, Phone Ranger, Rocket Racer and Stilt Man.Their boss is Past Pot Pete. There will be a video featuring the team up on Marvel Live this weekend, and Marvel.com next week.